Me: another story! Yippee! :DD okay, yah not really…. Hehe, I just keep layin' em on the table, eh? I can't stop thinking of story ideas! Sorry ^-^' anyway this was inspired by that scene in 'Lilo and Stitch' where Lilo had drawn a picture of Stitch and colored most of it red, she said…well, you probably know now. so, on with the chapter!

~
His Badness Level

Chapter 1

Play With Me, Brother!

It had been three weeks since Azula came aboard my ship and simply threw a five year old at me. Literally.

It had been three weeks since that little girl began calling me her 'brother'.

It had been three weeks since Zuko and Iroh inherited a problem.

She went by the name of Ember- she was named after the Island Zuko and his family had visited when they were still a family. She was pale just like her 'brother' and had his eyes, but for a child of the fire nation, she had the most bizarre colored eyes- they were a pale green with tints of blue; almost as if someone had taken a Crayola pencil crayon and colored over the green. Her button nose was off center and her lips were small and cute like Ty Lees. Her silky onyx hair reached past her shoulders and she wore a traditional fire nation kimono Iroh had gotten for her. She refused to wear shoes of any sort, as she complained 'they hurt her feet'. Ember went bare foot anywhere she went; the only thing between the tender skins of her soles was a thin layer of bandaging.

"Brother!" an exited little girl ran as fast as her little five year old legs could take her to Zuko.

Zuko sighed, exasperated and slightly angered, "For the last time, I am not your brother!"

It had been three weeks, and no matter how many times or how rudely he told her he simply wasn't the guy she was looking for, she completely ignored it.

"Will you play with me?" Ember grinned with her hands folded behind her back as she rock back and forth on her feet. Something she only did when she was extremely happy.

"No, Ember. I will not play with you." Zuko left the little girl broken standing on the deck of his ship. She no longer rocked back on forth on her dirt covered feet.

A comforting hand was placed on her shoulder which caused her to look up. Iroh smiled at the young girl before him, he knelt down to her eye level, "Zuko will warm up to you. Do not worry, Ember."

Ember nodded and furiously wiped away her tears that had leaked from her pale green and blue hues. She sniffed and rubbed her nose as well, "Will you play with me, uncle Iroh?"

Iroh got to his feet and lifted the child, "Of course, what shall we play today?" he gave her a warming smile that always made Embers' day.

"I wanna play….hide and seek!"

If she could, she would have certainly rocked on her feet.

~
Zuko sat in his quarters his feet over the edge of his bed and his back hunched so he could rest his chin on his folded hands. His mind was basically a tangle of thoughts. One of which was Ember. Had Azula brain-washed her to make her think he was her brother? Or had she picked her up from a random Earth kingdom city and hit her a little too hard on the head? Either or, he was getting a little fed up with her and her excessive callings of 'brother'.

A knock was heard and the banished prince reluctantly answered the knock, "Come in." He leaned back on the metal wall behind him as his uncle had entered the room.

"How are you, my nephew?" Iroh gave him a warming smile that sadly didn't warm his heart of ice. Zuko shrugged nonchalantly, "Good."

Iroh took a seat beside his nephew, "May I?" Zuko nodded, "You already have." The older one of the two ignored his witty comment.

"Zuko, you have to be gentler with Ember." Iroh explained to him, "She is only five years old; you can't treat her like she's one of your warriors in line. She is easily discouraged."

"It's not my fault; I would be gentler if she could stop calling me brother!" Zuko said back to him, his blood boiling. Every day after Zuko had encountered Ember and he said something 'harsh', he would come and lecture him about being 'nicer' more 'gentler'.

"You take that to heart, Zuko?" Iroh crossed his arms over his chest, an eyebrow raised.

"Take what to heart?" Zuko knew clearly what he was talking about. Iroh did too, but answered him anyway, "That you would be nicer to Ember if she ceased calling you 'brother'."

Zuko nodded, "I take it to heart."

A relaxed smile wiped the serious expression right off his face, "Good." He stood and left his nephew drown in his angsty past like he did every other day.

Ursa sat in her cell huddled in a corner, dried tears stained her face. She thought it had been over years ago, it was a deal. That night after she had heard what was going to happen to her baby, she made a deal with her so called 'husband'. If she left, Ozai wouldn't kill him- he would only burn and banish him. Ursa came in the middle of the night a red cloak over her, to her sons' room. She told him good bye and pulled the cloak over her face as she fled the palace.

Ursa travelled the world in disguise, she changed her name too- Kai. No one noticed her and no one was fazed by her disappearance as she hadn't heard it in any gossip weeks after she had fled. She bought clothes from Gaoling then settled there.

Ursa thought everyday of her beloved son and how his life would change, if it hadn't already. He had always admired his father, he looked for his praise as his sister- Azula, and she had gotten ever passing minute of the day. Zuko craved the attention of his father, to be loved by him like Azula was. Since Zuko couldn't gain his, Ura took it upon herself to shower him with affection to make up for it.

Every single day, Ursa unravelled a painting of her son. Her Zuko.

The ex-fire nation woman soon met a nice man by the name of Gahng. She fell head over heels for him and so did Gahng with her. He had the most peculiar colored eyes- pale green with hints of blue. He also had the most perfect colored hair too- onyx. They didn't get married as Ursa didn't feel comfortable with it, someone could hear of it and recognize her then tell Ozai of it. That was the last thing on her list. Gahng understood that she didn't want to get married as Ursa eventually told him the truth about her past- Gahng didn't judge her and didn't accepted her for who she was. Ursa eventually bared an innocent little girl. Ursa named her Ember, after the Island that she had her family visited when they were still together. She inherited Gahngs' eye and hair color.

Ursa sniffed as she held her knees even closer to her. She could sob no more- it seemed she had run out of tears. The Fire Nation had come to her hut and knocked on the door. She had refused to come with them so they stormed the house and killed Gahng. After the small elite team of fire benders stormed her house- Azula came in after them.

Ursa hadn't given her one thought since she left the palace. Not one.

Azula simply walked past her and headed to Embers room. Ursa heard a scream and Azula came to her lifting her five year old daughter by the upper arm. Ursa begged her not to kill her and she didn't- she let her on the ground and told Ursa to come with her. Ember clutched onto her mother for dear life as they were taken to the Fire Nation. Unknown to Azula and even Ozai, she had snuck a picture of Zuko into Embers robe.

Ozai threw her in the dungeon and took Ember.

Ursa still didn't know what has happened to her precious daughter.

The tears began to flow again, she sobbed silently as she hadn't spoken since she got there. Her 'husband' was killed by her daughter's army and her daughter was taken away. Ursa's hair was in disarray and she hadn't bathed since she was thrown into the dungeon three weeks ago. She was sure she smelled. Though, Ursa couldn't do anything about it, she had a 24/7 guard on her and she was only fed small meals every day. She hadn't done fire bending in years since she wanted her identity to be secret, so she was unsure she could still bend.

It mattered not, she would never get out of the horrid dungeon and she would never see her precious Ember or Zuko.

For Ursa, all hope was lost long ago only for it to be restored again, and then burnt down in a much more harsh way by her so called 'daughter'.

Azula did and did not 'brain wash' the child as Zuko would put it. As the toddler threw a fit about her mother, a small scroll fell out of her robe. Too busy having a fit, Ember hadn't noticed it. As Azula became suspicious about it, she picked it up and opened it.

A smirk, plastered on her face and she had an idea.

Azula knelt in front of the crying child and showed her the picture. She explained all the good things about Zuko as the girl wiped her tears and sucked in the information. When she was wound up in what seemed to her, the ideal brother. Azula rolled up the scroll and handed it back to her and asked, "Would you like to see him?"

The girl eagerly nodded and Azula boarded a ship and tracked her brother down to give him the ideal sister he always wanted.

And she did then just that and returned back to the Fire Nation.

She told her father- Ozai, about it and he subtly praised her. Azula had a small smile stuck onto her face as she heard her father praise her, "Very good, Azula. You certainly were born lucky." Azula desperately craved to have praise and attention from her father, and he gave her exactly that.

All that praise and attention was Azulas drive.

Ember happily pranced around her room and jumped a couple times on her bed because finally, her bro- I mean, Zuko would visit her room. In the three weeks that she was there, not once has Zuko ever visited. It was mostly uncle and some guards that she played with when uncle Iroh was busy and Zuko simply didn't want to play.

Ember giggled and went to her desk. Her desk had numerous amounts of books piled up ontop of eachother- her desk was too high to get on, even if she just had a chair. She grabbed a piece of paper and a black crayon. She opened her drawer and picked up the scroll her mommy snuck into her robe before they were separated. Mama had told her about him as well as Azula. She took a quick peek at the full body scale painting and swiftly she rolled the scroll back and gently put it in her drawer under some other worthless junk. She picked up the wax crayon and held the paper flat with her other hand. Ember was determined to draw Zuko.

Before she could start, there was a knock on the door.

Ember sighed and looked back at the door, she really wanted to finish the outline of Zuko. She gasped excitedly, perhaps it was Zuko? Ember held in a squeal as she thought she could show Zuko her artistic skills. "Come in!" she squirmed in her chair eagerly as, yes, it was Zuko.

"Bro-Zuko!" she corrected her mistake before he could quickly exit the room. Zuko entered her room and closed the door behind him, "Ember, what is it you're doing?"

There was no 'hello' or 'how are you?', but Ember could care less.

Ember smiled ear to ear, Zuko was interested in her work! "I'm going to draw you!" she turned back to the blank piece of paper- Zuko leaned over her shoulder. Ember jutted her bottom lip out and looked up Zuko, "Don't look! It's a surprise!"

Zuko sighed and sat on her bed, which was by far more comfortable than his.

Ember let the wax crayon glide over the page and by memory only, she drew Zuko. She grinned, ecstatic and put the crayon down as she lifted up her drawing. She made her way down the 'book stairs' and ran giddily towards Zuko.

"See, it's you!" Ember pointed to the crude drawing. It was basically an outline of himself. There was no distinct lines of his clothes, there was only his not so round head and his ponytail as well as a very big happy face drawn where his mouth is.

Zuko strained a small smile, the muscles in his face were not used to smiling, so he found it very difficult. Ember grinned and ran back over to her desk and grabbed a red pencil with an eraser at the end and a hard cover book.

Zuko was perplexed at what Ember was doing. All she ever did was smile!

She jumped up on the bed and put the book on her lap. Zuko groaned, he thought he was going to read to him. Zuko paused at his thoughts, did she even know how to read?

Ember grabbed her picture and her crayon and laid them flat on the book. The book acting as her table.

Zuko tried leaning over her, but all she did was stick out her bottom lip and covered the paper with her free hand. Eventually, Zuko got tired of trying to see what she was doing and just waited until she was finished.

Ember carefully colored in the lines with red and stopped where Zukos nose was. She put the crayon down on the fluffy exterior and she crawled over to him.

"This is you." Ember pointed to the sheet with the crude picture of him.

"This is your badness level. It's unusually high for someone like you." She pointed to all the red that had been colored in of the crude picture of him.

Ember rolled up the picture, "We have to fix that." Zuko simply rolled his eyes.

TBC